


Sides

by otomekaidii



Series: Love for Levi [9]
Category: Shall We Date?: Obey Me!
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, BOGO on soft bois, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, Gender-neutral Reader, Hugging, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Literal Sleeping Together, Misunderstandings, Multi, Other, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Polyamory, Platonic Relationships, Reader-Insert, Soft Mammon, Well it’s a thing now, is that a thing?, soft Levi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-27
Updated: 2020-11-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27742594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/otomekaidii/pseuds/otomekaidii
Summary: You work to navigate the complexities of friendship with your two favorite demons.AKA - That time Mammon misunderstands you and gets jealous of Levi.It’s like a buy one, get one free sale on soft bois.**UPDATED VERSION**
Relationships: Leviathan (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!) & Reader, Leviathan (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Reader, Leviathan/Main Character/Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Leviathan/Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Leviathan/Reader/Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!), Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!) & Reader, Mammon (Shall We Date?: Obey Me!)/Reader
Series: Love for Levi [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2020585
Comments: 29
Kudos: 148





	1. Levi

**Author's Note:**

> I had originally published a much shorter version of this story in the wee hours of the morning. But after sleeping on it, I decided I wasn’t satisfied with how it turned out and deleted it. 
> 
> If you read that first story, parts of this one will probably sound familiar to you. But I added a lot of additional content in this new version, and think I did a better job of exploring the relationships between everyone involved as well, so I hope you give it another try.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You spend some time with Levi as he vents about some things that are bothering him.

Levi had a really rough day.

He had gotten stuck with a public speaking assignment (that they would not let him out of despite the fact most of his classes were online) for RAD and he completely flubbed it. 

Ordinarily he’d turn to his favorite anime for a distraction, but he recently learned that it was cancelled and they weren’t going to finish the current season so it only depressed him more whenever he tried to watch it. And he also couldn’t even pick up the latest manga he had been hooked on because his favorite character just died, out of nowhere!

Feeling like absolute crap, he curled up in his tub and just waited for you to come back from RAD for the day. He already struggled enough with his own negative thoughts daily, and this added stress was really getting to him. But you always told him how you’d be willing to listen to him if he ever needed to talk, so he thought this would be as good of a time as any to try to take you up on that offer. He just hoped you got back before his own self doubt convinced him that it wasn’t even worth trying to talk to you because he was just overreacting and you’d surely be annoyed that he wasted your time for something so trivial.

————

“Levi? I’m back. Are you ready…”

When you opened Levi’s door to join him for your scheduled anime marathon, you were shocked to see he wasn’t in his room. Or at least that’s how it appeared initially. But after you took a few steps inside, Levi lifted his arm up just enough to be visible and waved you over to his location in the tub.

“Hey, what are you doing in here? You feeling ok?”, you asked, kneeling beside the tub, before crossing your arms and resting them on the edge. 

“No. I feel awful. Everything is awful. It’s not fair…”

“Scooch,” you instructed him, standing so you could climb into the tub to lay down next to him. Levi was a little startled at first by the sudden request, causing him to blush, but he did as you said and made a space for you to lay beside him.

Laying on your side, you tucked one arm under a pillow, adjusting its position so you were as comfortable as possible given your current location. And with the other arm you reached out to brush Levi’s bangs from his eyes so you could get a better look at him, before taking hold of one of his hands and giving it a reassuring squeeze. 

“What happened? Is this about that school project?”

“No...well yes...but that’s not the only thing…”

“Then what are the other things?”

“You’ll think it’s stupid. I know I’m overreacting and just being a lame otaku.”

“Levi, you know that’s not true. I told you that you could talk to me, so talk to me.”

Levi thought for a moment about how best to approach this as he played with your hand, rubbing his thumb along your fingers. He wanted you to understand how big of a deal this was for him, but the thought of saying it out loud was...well, scary. He didn’t know what he’d do if you told him to get over it. But, after taking a deep breath, Levi decided to just trust you, and started to explain.

“It’s...you know that new anime I started? Well it’s not new new. It’s been out for awhile. But I just started it?”

“Umm, I’m not sure if I do, but continue,” you said, giving his hand another comforting squeeze, smiling at him softly.

“Well...it’s...well...they canceled it. And they didn’t just cancel it like not renew it. They CANCELED it. They won’t even be finishing the season. And how could they do that? Don’t they know how invested people get in their characters? Who gave them the right to just decide their fans don’t deserve an ending? The least they could do is finish the season! I can understand if they don’t finish a story arc, but a whole season?!”

Levi froze. Without even meaning to, he had slipped into pure otaku mode, ranting about his problems with fiery passion. His cheeks flushed as he averted his gaze, “S-s-sorry. I got carried away. You probably didn’t want to hear about all that stuff…”, he said, shrinking in on himself.

“It’s fine Levi,” you replied, laughing softly. You gave his hand another squeeze before continuing, “I like listening to you talk about your stuff. You know that. And you listen to me rant about my stuff too.”

Realizing Levi wasn’t going to look at you on his own, you let go of his hand and gently cupped his cheek, tilting his face up so you could look him in the eyes, “It’s ok Levi. I promise. So finish your story.” 

You were looking at him so tenderly Levi wasn’t even sure how to respond. He could tell you were concerned for him, and even though you didn’t know what he was talking about, you were still listening intently. He really liked that about you. It was one of the many things he thought made you such a good friend, and he was so thankful you were his friend right now.

He gave you a small smile, and closed his eyes, holding your hand to his cheek while he continued. “There’s also this manga. I don’t want to say which because you’ll probably want to read it later. At least I think you will. I’d want you to. 

But anyways, there was this one side character that I really liked. He was just so fun, but he also stood up for his friends and was just really cool. But...they...they...they killed him off! Just out of nowhere. There wasn’t a warning. Nothing that happened made you think he was in danger. You just open the volume and BAM he’s dead. Page one.”

Levi grew silent now that he’d gotten everything off his chest. Just talking to you made his heart feel a little bit lighter. Not that he was back to feeling 100%, but at least he didn’t feel quite as hopeless.

“So just too much bad stuff going on all at once, huh?”

“Y-y-yeah. After that...torture...at RAD I couldn’t even relax and unwind because everything else just made it worse! It’s not fair. Why did this all have to happen today? They couldn’t have spaced these things out by a couple weeks or something?”, Levi asked, with a huff of frustration. 

“Come here,” you said, as you moved the arm out from under your pillow to slip it behind Levi’s neck and pull him into a hug. He didn’t put up any resistance at this point because he was pretty sure he was about to cry and didn’t want you to see his face. He simply cuddled into your shoulder as you started running your fingers through his hair.

“Thank you for talking to me. It makes me happy to know you trust me that much,” you pressed a small kiss to his forehead. “I’m sorry you had such a rough day.”

Levi just pulled you closer, letting your legs tangle with his. He used to think he hated being touched, but for some reason he never got tired of having you close. Your presence and your warmth just soothed him, melting away the knots of anxiety. He loved the feeling of your fingers combing through his hair too. It was always at a nice, slow, steady rhythm that was easy to focus on when he needed to keep his mind from wandering where it shouldn’t. 

The two of you laid together like that in silence for a while, and it didn’t take long before you both had fallen asleep, with just the gentle hum of electronics as white noise in the background.


	2. Misunderstandings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You head to Mammon’s room after dinner to talk to him about Levi and ask him for a favor.

That night at dinner, Mammon couldn’t help but notice the little glances and smiles you had been exchanging with his brother. It annoyed him immensely that you had been even the least bit distracted by Levi while he had been talking to you, even if you were still able to actively participate in the conversation. He had thought about calling you out on it, but didn’t know how to do that without causing a scene and making himself look jealous. 

He was surprised when he heard a knock on his door and discovered that it was you paying him a visit. He thought for sure that you had slipped away to Levi’s room. 

“Hey Mammon, do you have a second to talk?”

“I s’pose. But ya better make it quick because I have somethin’ planned later,” he said. He most certainly did not have anything planned later and would happily talk to you all night if you wanted, but he didn’t want to make himself appear too desperate. At least not now while he was still mildly annoyed with you.

“Thanks. It won’t take long, I promise.” Mammon led you over to his sofa where you both took a seat and you turned to face him, “You know how whenever your brothers manage to take the seats next to me before you get a chance and you make up whatever reason you can for why you get to force yourself in between us so that you’re next to me?”

“....no.” Of course, Mammon knew exactly what you were talking about, and the deep blush on his cheeks betrayed him, so you continued.

“Well, for a little while at least, do you think you could not do that anymore with Levi? I think he’s having a pretty rough time right now and I just want to be able to spend a bit more time with him.”

Mammon blinked at you a few times, not fully understanding what you were saying. You didn’t want him to sit next to you? And you wanted to spend more time with Levi? He thought he had done a good job concealing his jealousy at dinner, but he started to wonder if maybe you noticed. Is that why you didn’t want him next to you? Because he annoyed you? You finally got tired of him hanging around all the time and constantly dragging you places? And now you were here to tell him you didn’t want him anymore. You didn’t need him.

“Umm, Mammon? You okay?”, you asked, examining his face in concern. You didn’t think your request had been that big of a deal. You just asked him to leave Levi alone for a bit. Why did he look so upset? 

“Uhh...yeah...sure. Got it,” he said, turning away from you. 

His response really puzzled you, but he didn’t leave you long to think about it, “That all? I told ya I had things to do.”

“Oh right, sorry. Thanks for talking with me. I’ll see you later, yeah?” you said as you stood up and headed towards his door to leave. Mammon gave you a grunt in acknowledgement, waiting until you were gone before collapsing on his back on his sofa. 

Mammon wasn’t sure what to make of that conversation just now. Pretty much since you made your pact with him, you two had been inseparable. Wherever you were, he wasn’t far behind. It didn’t matter what his brothers tried to plan without him, he always found a way to involve himself. You never complained about it though, in fact you always seemed to be happy to see him, smiling and laughing at whatever flimsy excuse he gave before inviting him to join you. 

But maybe he had worn out his welcome. 

He knew you had been getting closer to Levi lately. Which wasn’t surprising really. You had so much in common with each other after all. Half the time he couldn’t even keep up with your conversations anymore. It didn’t really bother him though. He liked seeing your eyes sparkle when you were talking about something you loved, and he liked knowing that his brother had finally found someone he could relate to. And since you both made sure to include him often in your game nights or movie marathons, he never felt left out.

He started to wonder though if you perhaps had wished that he wasn’t around quite so often. Were you just humoring him? Knowing that he’d whine and complain if you said no, you decided it was just easier to let him tag a long? His chest tightened painfully at the thought. He didn’t want to think you’d do that. He didn’t want to think that all those bright smiles you had given him when he’d show up unexpectedly were fake. But he wasn’t coming up with any other explanations at this point for why you were suddenly asking for space. At some point, he had simply become nothing more than a nuisance.


	3. Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mammon has been ignoring you, so you try to get to the bottom of it. Levi calls his brother out for his behavior.

It had been a week now since you had talked to Mammon last, and you were growing frustrated. Ever since then, he had been doing his utmost to avoid you. He’d still chat with you at dinner, but he never hung around long after. He hadn’t shown up in your room for an impromptu sleepover at all either. And prior to that, it has been an almost daily occurrence. 

You had tried to see if you could meet up with him to get to the bottom of it, sure it had something to do with the last conversation you had had. But every time you tried, he’d evade and come up with some reason for why he was busy and unable to make the time. Today you decided was your limit, and you were going to force him to talk one way or another. 

As soon as classes ended at RAD, you cornered Mammon and asked him to walk you home. You knew he wouldn’t refuse since he still took his Guardian duties seriously, so you were hoping that you’d be able to make use of the walk back to the House of Lamentation and get some information out of him. 

“Thanks for walking with me.”

“Ehh. Just my job,” Mammon replied, kicking some loose rocks. 

“So what have you been up to this week?” 

“Nothin’ much. Just workin’ and stuff.” 

“Oh, ok. Enjoying your work at least?” 

“I guess, it’s whatever,” he said with a shrug.

There was a long awkward pause after that. He was hardly engaging with you at all. And before you knew it, you were already home. But no sooner had you arrived, then the front door opened and Levi came running out to greet you, eager to show you the new game from Akuzon that had been delivered.

As you stood there talking to him about it and making plans for the evening, Mammon was forced to hover nearby awkwardly while you and Levi blocked the door. He really didn’t want to watch you and his brother make plans without him. It was bad enough trying to keep his distance from you so that he wouldn’t bother you, he didn’t need to know what you were doing when he wasn’t around too.

“Hey Mammon!” you said, turning towards him with a smile, “Why don’t you join us? It’s a multiplayer game so we can all play together.” He always liked being involved in your game nights before, so you hoped this would give you another chance to talk to him.

Before he even knew what was happening the words flew out of his mouth, “Why would I want to spend time with _you_?”

You stood there, absolutely stunned. He had never used that tone with you before. His words pierced your heart, with icy tendrils spreading through your chest. As you struggled to form any coherent thoughts, your mouth opening and closing silently, tears began to gather in your eyes. 

“Um...I’ll just...I’ll go…” was all you could manage as you made your escape, making a beeline towards your room. 

As soon as you were out of ear shot, Levi turned on his brother, “What the hell was that?!” He had never been so angry before and it took every last scrap of his self control to stop him from ripping Mammon’s throat out right there on the porch.

“Nothin’,” he replied, trying to step past Levi so that he could retreat to his own room as well. He hadn’t meant to sound that harsh with you. He was only trying to do what you had asked and give you time with Levi. But he had been so worked up after listening to the two of you talk that his emotions got the better of him.

“Oh no you don’t!” Levi stepped in front of Mammon to prevent him from going further, “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me why you had to be such an ass!” 

“Look, they just told me they didn’t want to spend as much time with me. So I’m doin’ what they said.” 

“I don’t know what you _think_ they said, but they certainly didn’t look like someone who didn’t want to spend time with you. They looked like someone who just had their heart crushed,” Levi’s eyes narrowed as he continued to stare Mammon down. Whatever the hell was going on between the two of you, he was not going to let Mammon get away with dumping it all on you. You were the nicest person he had ever known, and he knew just how much you cared for his idiot brother. He didn’t think it possible that you would ever actually tell Mammon you didn’t want him around. 

“Well ya might wanna get your eyes checked then.” 

Mammon knew he shouldn’t be picking a fight with Levi. Especially one centered around you. Outside of insulting Ruri-chan it was the most sure fire way to piss him off, and everyone knew how much destruction an angry Leviathan could cause. Mammon knew that, but he kept pushing anyway. Perhaps he wanted Levi to lash out at him. Maybe he wanted an excuse to take out his frustration on his brother, the one you apparently preferred to spend time with. And maybe a small part of him also felt like he deserved to get his own ass kicked.

“Nuh-uh. Not taking that bait. I know what I saw. And so do you.” _Why was Mammon being like this?_ , Levi wondered. He was borderline obsessive about you until about a week ago when he just seemed to disappear. Not that Levi didn’t mind getting some additional uninterrupted time with you, but even he missed having his brother around. Nothing was quite as entertaining as thoroughly destroying Mammon in a multiplayer game, after all.

“I told ya, they don’t want me around.”

“And I told YOU that you must have misunderstood!”

“Well, you’re wrong,” Mammon said, pausing briefly before continuing to say something he knew was unbelievably stupid, “Ya know it’s kinda your fault. You’re the one they wanted to spend more time with. So you share the blame.”

“Why you…..!” 

Without giving Mammon a chance to react, Levi tackled him to the ground, already in his demon form, before punching him square in the jaw. A loud CRACK let Levi know he had made a good hit. Mammon tried to bring his arms up to shield his face, but Levi was quick to pin them down, straddling his chest and grabbing him by the lapels of his uniform. 

“Now you listen to me, you pathetic waste of space! Don’t you dare try to blame me for what you did! You made them cry! YOU need to fix it!” Levi’s tone was absolutely venomous. His tail was whipping around violently behind him, and he wanted nothing more than to just strangle Mammon with it. 

Mammon just laid there, looking up at Levi. The ache in his jaw already seemed to have dulled, and he was wondering what else he could provoke Levi into doing to him. This is what he deserved. He harassed you and made you uncomfortable and now he made you cry. He deserved anything Levi could give him.

“Are you listening to me?!” Levi snapped, shaking Mammon, “Why the hell aren’t you fighting back?! Do something!”

But there wasn’t anything for Mammon to do. He realized he couldn’t blame Levi, as much as he wanted to. If he had just been...better...then things wouldn’t have come to this. Instead, he was too clingy, too loud, too annoying and he had driven you away. He couldn’t blame Levi for that, and he couldn’t blame you either. The fault lied with him. 

“Levi?!” 

Mammon and Levi whipped their heads around to find you standing in the doorway, having come to check on them after hearing all the yelling. The color instantly drained from Levi’s face. He knew how this had to have looked to you. He had only been trying to stand up for you and be a good friend. And now you were looking at him in complete shock, and he could only imagine what you must have been thinking. He quickly scrambled to get off of Mammon, shifting out of his demon form as he fidgeted nervously with the hem of his sleeves, avoiding eye contact with you. 

You were still frozen in the doorway, unsure of where to look or whom to go to first. Mammon clearly looked injured though, so you finally got your feet to move and you rushed to his side to check on him. But when you tried to help him up, he just swatted your hands away.

“I’m fine. Don’t need ya help. It’s nothin’,” was all he said before rising and heading inside.

You turned to look at Levi for some sort of explanation, when you suddenly found yourself wrapped in a tight hug from him.

“I’m sorry! He just made me so mad!” 

“It’s ok. Just tell me what happened,” you replied, returning his hug, and rubbing his back.

“He...he said it was my fault. And he blamed you. He kept saying you had told him you didn’t want him around,” Levi said, his face hidden in your shoulder, “I just...wanted to make him stop…”

“Why would…” 

Ah. The final piece fell into place. If what Levi was saying was true, then Mammon had taken your conversation with him last week in an entirely different direction than what you had intended. 

“Thank you for looking out for me, Levi,” you said, as you hugged him, “I think I know what’s wrong now, so I need to go fix it.” 

You pulled away, offering him a bittersweet smile, “I think this really was my fault. I’m sorry you got involved. You aren’t hurt are you?” 

“N-n-no I’m fine. It was just Mammon.”

“That’s good. I need to go check on him though. Will you be alright?” you asked.

“Yeah I’m fine...you’re not mad, are you?” 

You gave him a small laugh, “No Levi, I’m not mad. Not with you at least. Maybe with myself for not figuring this out sooner.” With one final reassuring hug, you left and headed towards Mammon’s room to finally clear up this misunderstanding.


	4. Mammon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You’re finally able to talk to Mammon, and spend some much needed quality time with him.

“Mammon? I’m coming in.” 

You didn’t even give Mammon a chance to reply after knocking on his door. Instead, you just let yourself inside, knowing that if he had replied he probably would have just told you to go away. And you were not going anywhere.

Mammon was laying on his bed, his back to the door, as you approached. He didn’t make any moves to greet you or even to chase you out. If anything, he tried to make himself look smaller, like he was hoping he could just fade away. 

And that’s because that’s exactly what he was hoping to do. Even though his jaw had started healing already, it still ached. Every throb of pain another reminder of how he had hurt you and how much he deserved to be punished for it. 

Almost as soon as he hit his room, he had started crying, ashamed of himself for how he had behaved. He hadn’t been expecting you to follow after him, and now that you were here he was having a difficult time calming himself down again. He didn’t want you to see him like this. He didn’t want you to feel bad for wanting to be rid of him, not when it was his fault in the first place.

Seeing Mammon curled up as he was, made your heart ache. You didn’t hesitate as you walked towards him and climbed into bed alongside him, spooning him from behind, hugging him to you. You felt his body stiffen under your arms, but you didn’t let go, you just held him closer.

“I’m sorry, Mammon,” you whispered, “I’m so, so sorry.”

Mammon didn’t know what you were apologizing for. He knew he should push you away. That he should distance himself from you. But he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He had missed you so much. And he wanted to be comforted. Even if he didn’t think he deserved it. 

“Levi told me why you were upset. He said you thought I didn’t want you around anymore,” when Mammon didn’t object, you continued, “I’m sorry for making you think that. But that’s the last thing I ever wanted.”

You hugged him tighter, wishing he could feel how sincere you were. 

“I didn’t mean it like that. I just wanted you to let Levi alone for a bit. That’s all.”

“How’s that any different?” he snapped, turning over part way to face you. Tears already stained his face while anger, hurt, frustration all flickered through his eyes.

“Mammon,” you sat back a little and cupped his cheek with one of your hands, gently stroking it with your thumb (careful to avoid where he’d been hit earlier), as you held him in place so he couldn’t turn away again, “I have two sides you know?” You gave him a small grin, hoping he’d pick up on what you were hinting at. 

“I know that. I ain’t stupid.”

You chuckled at his response, “All I was asking is that you let Levi have one side. You can chase off whoever else is on the other side. That’s all. I want you on one side, and Levi on the other.”

“Oh.” 

That’s really all Mammon could say. He blushed deeply as he became more aware of just how badly he had misunderstood you. He also realized how terrible he had been to you, and all the trouble he caused you. How much he must have hurt you. But you didn’t seem to care about all that. You were just staring at him and smiling that bright smile of yours. All you cared about was the fact that he now understood. 

Seeing that Mammon’s confusion had finally cleared, you wrapped him up in a tight hug as best you could from your awkward position, giving him a firm squeeze, “I do want you around. I promise. I don’t know what I would do without the Great Mammon to keep me company.” 

“Probably be pretty borin’ without me,” he replied, laughing a little.

“Oh, definitely,” you pulled back, smiling, giving him the opportunity to turn over the rest of the way to fully face you. From his new position you could easily see the nasty bruise on his cheek, which you could only assume was from Levi, “He got you pretty good, didn’t he?”

“Yeah. My fault though. I kinda egged him on,” he winced as he tried to give you a small smile, “It’s already mostly healed. Demonic power and all that.” 

“Still, it looks like it must hurt.”

“Nah, I’ll be fine. I deserved it anyways…” Mammon’s voice trailed off as he remembered all that had happened this week, “I’m…umm...I’m sorry. I jus’...I didn’t know what else to do...and I was…”

“Hey, it’s ok. It was a misunderstanding. You were hurt. But we got it all figured out now, right?”

“Yeah,” he replied as he embraced you again, pulling you closer and burying his face in your chest.

“I’ll always want you around, Mammon. Always,” you replied, hugging him tightly in return, “Please don’t forget that.”

He nodded against you, tightening his grip. He was so happy you had come back to him. Even though he had been so incredibly stupid and jumped to the worse possible conclusion. You still wanted him. You still needed him. 

And he needed and wanted you too. It had been longer than he could remember since he last had a friend he could be this close to, someone he could rely on and be open with. But with you here now, he knew he could never go back to the way it was before. 

You had only been involved in his life for several short months, and you had already turned it upside down. You showed him kindness and understanding when no one else did. And no matter what mess he got himself in, you were supportive and would help him get out of it. You never held it against him when he made mistakes either. And he made a lot of mistakes, he was sure. 

You didn’t see it that way, though. You knew exactly how hard he tried. And you were always grateful when he showed up to help you out, even if all his plans fell to pieces. Just having him there was enough. His friendship had become so unbelievably precious to you, you couldn’t imagine not having him around. And you didn’t want to either. And as Mammon continued to hug you, you made a silent promise to yourself - you were going to make sure he never had a reason to doubt you again.

**Author's Note:**

> This was entirely self indulgent. 🙃 
> 
> But thank you for taking the time to read this, especially if you were one of the few that read it the first time and decided to give it a second chance. ❤️


End file.
